BACKGROUND: Consolidation of resources, programs, and even universities are measures that university systems consider for economic reasons. The transformation and restructuring of two diverse nursing programs utilized an organizational change tool to guide the consolidation efforts. PURPOSE: Insights on how to use an organizational change model and lessons learned are shared for higher education units that may face consolidation. METHODS: The ADKAR Change Management Model, one of many organizational change resources, was advantageous in consolidating two diverse nursing programs when two universities were mandated to become one...

The healthcare provider landscape is rapidly changing. Given the imminent retirement of baby boomer physicians, implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the increased utilization of health care services by an ever-aging population, the supply of providers cannot keep pace with the demand for services. This has led to an increased utilization of advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs). This article shows how one large highly-matrixed health care system approached identifying this workforce, and how thought leaders worked collaboratively with physicians, administrators, and ACPs to meet a growing demand for providers...

OBJECTIVE: We develop and evaluate a methodological approach to measure the degree and nature of overlap in handoff communication content within and across clinical professions. This extensible, exploratory approach relies on combining techniques from conversational analysis and distributional semantics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We audio-recorded handoff communication of residents and nurses on the General Medicine floor of a large academic hospital (n=120 resident and n=120 nurse handoffs)...

BACKGROUND: The incidence of premature infants with complex medical needs, dependent upon medical technology at discharge, is on the rise in the United States. PURPOSE: Preparing the family for the hospital-to-home transition can be challenging due to the complex medical and emotional needs of the vulnerable infant and the volume of subspecialty services and equipment required. METHODS/SEARCH STRATEGY: Relevant articles from PubMed, Google Scholar, CINAHLFINDINGS/RESULTS:: There is an increasing incidence of technology dependent infants discharged from neonatal intensive care units in the United States...

BACKGROUND: Menopausal women are in a transitional phase between health and sickness. Although the highest standards of menopausal care include clinical assessment and patient education on menopausal symptoms, current practices lack integrated care that aim to prevent chronic diseases for which menopause is a predisposing factor. PURPOSE: To integrate menopausal disturbances; to evaluate the risk factors for osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes; and to create a reliable and effective electronic menopausal health screen system (EMHSS)...

BACKGROUND: The population of children receiving long-term mechanical ventilation is growing worldwide, but only limited data exist in Asian regions. The objective of the study was to review the management of these children in Hong Kong over the past 2 decades. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study. Hospital records from subjects receiving mechanical ventilation for >3 months were retrieved. Demographic characteristics and medical information of subjects (≤21 y old) under the care of the ventilator program at the Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital between 1997 and 2015 were reviewed...

BACKGROUND: The dedicated education unit (DEU) was developed as an innovation to increase enrollment capacity and secure stable clinical placement sites in units that provide an optimal learning environment. The purpose of this multisite study was to describe, interpret, and offer insight into the meanings of the lived experiences of nursing faculty who had transitioned to teaching in a DEU. METHOD: Semistructured private interviews were conducted using an interpretive phenomenological approach...

Building a new hospital is an exciting time. However significant planning is required to prepare staff to assume care of patients in an environment with new workflow changes and new equipment. The challenges of this advanced preparation are compounded when the opening of the new hospital includes the planned move of the inpatient census of patients from an existing hospital to the new hospital. Goals and objectives on the move day include patient and staff safety, with a seamless transition to the new environment...

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder seen across the world. Recently, investigators have witnessed an upsurge in research on the potential benefits of early intervention during the prodromal stage: the sooner people start the treatment at their first psychotic episode, the better outcome on symptom relief and better functioning. This paper aims to critically review and synthesize empirical evidence published between 2005 and 2015 regarding the effectiveness of preemptive interventions on transition rate, symptom severity, depression, anxiety, and function level...

BACKGROUND: The treatment of children with cardiac disease is one of the most prevalent and costly pediatric inpatient conditions. The design of inpatient medical services for children admitted to and discharged from noncritical cardiology care units, however, is undefined. North American Pediatric Cardiology Programs were surveyed to define noncritical cardiac care unit models in current practice. METHOD: An online survey that explored institutional and functional domains for noncritical cardiac care unit was crafted...

AIM: To explore Iranian nursing students' transition to professional identity. BACKGROUND: Professional identity is an important outcome of nursing education that has not been fully explored in the Iranian nursing education system. INTRODUCTION: Professional identity is a significant factor influencing the development of nursing education and practice. The transition of nursing students to professional identity is the main concern of nursing education and fundamental prerequisite for policymaking and planning in the field of nursing education...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Nurse practitioner (NP) legislation was introduced in Australia in 1998 with the first NPs endorsed 2 years later. Although the number of NPs has slowly increased, they still face significant challenges adjusting to their new role. The aim of this study was to explore the factors that influence the experience of new NPs. METHODS: Ten newly appointed NPs were interviewed three to four times over a 12-month period. Using a summative content analysis, data were reduced to four key factors that influence the experience of role transition: personal, intraprofessional, interprofessional, and organizational...

The emergency department occupies a unique position within the health care system, serving as a safety net for vulnerable patients, regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or medical diagnosis. Shared decision making (SDM) presents special challenges when used with vulnerable population groups. The differing circumstances, needs and perspectives of vulnerable groups invoke issues of provider bias, disrespect, judgmental attitudes and lack of cultural competence; as well as patient mistrust, and the consequences of their social and economic disenfranchisement...

Internationally educated nurses (IEN) are a group who reflect Canada’s diverse population as a result of rising immigration trends. There is increasing diversity of the general population in Canada and health service disparities exist. Reducing these disparities among the healthcare workforce and the patients they care for is important to meet language and other cultural needs of patients from different ethnic backgrounds. This article describes a study that examined internationally educated nurses’ transition experiences in the field of nursing with the objective of describing their unique contributions to the patient care experience...

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Janus, the two-faced, Roman god of beginnings and transitions, is used as a metaphor to explore our personal narratives and our quantitative research on the experiences of older women with dementia in long-term care (LTC). Two research questions are addressed: (a) How do our quantitative data map onto our mothers' experiences? (b) What lessons do our mothers' experiences offer for the care of older women with dementia? DESIGN AND METHODS: Informed by a life-course perspective, we triangulate administrative data on 3,717 women with dementia receiving LTC in British Columbia, Canada, with personal narratives-the stories of our mothers who made the transition from home care into residential (nursing home) care...

BACKGROUND: In many countries, people over 85 years of age are relocated involuntarily or unplanned to a nursing home. In Switzerland, 43% of elderly over 85 years are admitted to nursing homes after hospital discharge. This percentage is higher than in the USA with 32.5% or in Germany with only 19%. Despite those more frequent Swiss admissions, no research has been conducted exploring how unplanned admissions to nursing homes affect the adaptation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding into unplanned admissions to nursing homes and to explore its impact on adaptation...

By incorporating focused feedback from families and other stakeholders a multidisciplinary team redesigned a single nurse home visit to improve transitions to home for pediatric patients following short-stay, acute care hospitalizations. Refinements to the nurse-led transitional home visit included standardization of teaching focused on condition- and medication-specific concerns, the use of red flags or warning signs to prompt caregiver action, and the provision of reassurance.

A highly visible transition occurred earlier this year with the retirement of Pam Thompson, MS, RN, CENP, FAAN, from her role as CEO of the American Organization of Nurse Executives. Ms Thompson was always an advocate of promoting the voice of nursing. This month, the spotlight will shine on a team of nurse leaders who found their voice, got involved, and led the conversation. We will trace their journey as they analyzed their situation, applied the evidence, and used their seat at the table.